


what happened in budapest

by darth_stitch



Series: He Blows It Eight-To-The-Bar (In Boogie Rhythm) [5]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Angst, BROT3, Clint Needs a Hug, Feels, Friendship, M/M, Natasha Feels, Past Abuse, Past Domestic Violence, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Steve Feels, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-07
Updated: 2015-05-07
Packaged: 2018-03-29 10:21:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3892777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darth_stitch/pseuds/darth_stitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve Rogers is the only one in the Avengers team who knows what happened in Budapest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted at [The Blanket Fort](http://darthstitch.tumblr.com/post/117202704941/what-happened-in-budapest)

Steve Rogers is the only one in the Avengers team who knows what happened in Budapest. 

Clint states that it is not possible to tell this story without several boxes of pizza, Nat’s favorite Hong Kong Style Fish Fillet With Garlic from that Chinese place down the block from his apartment, beer and vodka.  

He told Steve to bring the beer.  “I trust your taste, buddy.” 

Incidentally, despite the fact that he can’t actually get drunk on _anything_ alcoholic anymore, Steve does drink.  He brings in Piels and this great microbrew that he discovered, courtesy of [Agent “My Name is Not Actually Galaga” Wade.](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2847572)

Amazingly, Steve discovered he has a taste for vodka.  

Also, ever since that particular day, Natasha decided that Steve would be _Stepushka_ for her and she was pleased as punch when he learned that the proper affectionate diminutive for her was _Natashenka._   

She was also inordinately pleased that he could speak Russian and pass for a native of Saint Petersburg.  

After they tell him the real story about Budapest, Steve manages to tell them about his second-favorite memory about Bucky. 

It’s really the one about Coney Island, where Bucky double dog dared him to go on the Cyclone, even though he knew it was a truly bad idea.  Throwing up on Bucky’s spit-shined shoes was Steve’s idea of payback.  

He tells them about the sea air and Bucky’s laughter and disgusted noises and the two of them settling down on the sand to watch the waves, mainly so that Steve’s world could stop spinning and that he could take more than a couple of steps without Bucky deciding to carry him piggy back.  

When Natasha asks him what his _favorite_ memory was, Steve manages a smile.

(The smile is the one that Bucky claims he hates most.) 

But he tells them they’ll need to save that story for another day. 

“Another day” arrives after the Ultron Incident, when they’re all raw and aching and hurting so much and Steve is still burdened with the knowledge that Bucky, _the Winter Soldier_ , is still out there and not wanting to be found. 

Yet. 

So Clint orders the pizza.  Natasha gets her Chinese and the vodka.  Steve brings the beers.  

They are five beers and a bottle of vodka down when Steve finally manages to start talking. 

It’s not hard to taste apples on his tongue again, because that was the way Bucky tasted when they shared that first, sweet, secret kiss, when they were both young and stupid and stupid again in love and Steve teasing Bucky about wedding vows that were impossible to make between them and Bucky teasing back that there was no need to say the words, since they were living it anyway.  

Clint tells him about the circus and his brother.  He explains the real story behind Laura and the kids.  That she really isn't his wife and they're not really married.  But they're co-parents and friends as much as he and Natasha are and he's spent a long, long time fucking up and doing dumbass things until he formed this family with her that was out of choice, with her and Natasha and the kids.

And that he'd wished, so much, that Phil had lived to be a part of this "little, but broken, still good" family that they'd all formed together. 

Natasha strokes Steve's hair and whispers quietly about a memory that is maybe not a memory at all.  Maybe it’s a dream that she had three sisters and a doting Papa who would summon them with a clear, musical whistle that echoed through the halls.  Maybe it’s a dream that when Steve would talk about being tiny and sick all the time, that Natasha imagines him as a younger, beloved brother, which is why _Stepushka_ rolls so easily off her tongue.  

And then they go back to the Budapest story, because that one gets bigger and more different every time it’s retold.  

They drink and they eat and they trade stories and memories until it’s dawn. 

Somehow, it works for them. 

_\- end -_


	2. TL;DR:  The Barton Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Barton Family is little and broken but good. Yeah. Still good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted at [The Blanket Fort](http://darthstitch.tumblr.com/post/118316415241/tl-dr-the-barton-family)

It’s easier to say that they’re married because it _is_  a long story and well, they _are_ the biological parents to little Nate so, it’ll work. 

And of course, blood or not, _Clint_  is the only dad Cooper and Lila know and in Cooper’s case, the only father he wants to acknowledge.  Cooper doesn’t like remembering or talking about  _that bad man_ and Lila had been a baby at that time.  

So this is a familiar story.  Once upon a time, Miss Laura B. Williams made the mistake of falling in love with the wrong guy.  She’d been young, she’d been dazzled and charmed by him, she’d thought, _no, I can’t be in an abusive relationship, he was just out of sorts because of his Papa, he just needs to be understood, he just needs a little bit more time._

That’s how it starts, right?  You rationalize and you explain and you think _this is how love_  works and you sacrifice and you endure and before you know it, you’ve got two kids and you make excuses to your co-workers that you just had a little “accident” in the shower and you wear the long-sleeved blouses and put the concealer on and you tell your son, _Daddy’s just having a bad day._  

And one day, you take a good, hard long look at yourself in the mirror, after your son tells you that _Daddy is bad_  and you realize. 

Yeah. 

And fuck everyone who says, _Why don’t you just leave him?_  

 _Leaving_  is not that simple, even without the added complication of her asshole husband being Iosef Tarasov, the heir to the “throne” of Viggo Tarasov, who everyone knows was the head of the Russian mob in New York, except the police won’t arrest him because they’re “still working to bring him up on actual charges.” 

Laura might have been just an art teacher - that is, when Iosef allowed her to work - but even she knew it was useless to trust to the law to protect her and her kids.  

There was no way in hell she was going to end up being murdered in front of her children.  

So Laura had been _careful_.  She had a couple of brave friends who were willing to help and who wouldn’t have been suspected by Iosef or his father.  There was a sympathetic ADA named Catherine Chandler who had more than a few _unusual_ connections who helped her set up the plan.  

And then, when the aliens attacked New York? Laura saw that she had an _amazing_  opportunity.  It was something that might have made her famous MIA World War II hero great-uncle proud. 

Iosef Tarasov “tragically” lost his wife and two children in the Battle of New York.  Their bodies were never found and sadly, that was an all too common tale for many New Yorkers.  

Not even the Avengers could save everyone, right? 

So Laura and her children spent a few months underneath the secret Tunnel Community of New York, with its unusual protector.  Lila had _adored_  Vincent and spent many an hour babbling to him.  

Then the news came that Iosef ran afoul of the infamous assassin nicknamed _Baba Yaga._ That Iosef had been killed because he’d been a stupid, spoiled asshole who couldn’t keep his hands off the man’s car and killed his dog into the bargain.  And that the assassin pretty much tore up all of New York and took the _entire_  organization down in revenge.  

Iosef dead.  His father Viggo, dead.  

Laura could finally breathe.  

And she started dreaming that maybe, just maybe, she and her children could live above ground again.  

So that’s where Clint came in.  

Clint was like her, somebody who’d eventually found his way to the Tunnel Community when he’d been a kid, because life was fucked up and some people just got unlucky.  Clint had long since become a SHIELD agent but the Tunnels and the people living there were just among the many secrets he kept.  

He was also a Helper.  

So in the beginning, it had been a business deal.  Laura would look after his farmhouse in the country, safe and away from any possible remnants of the Russian mob (though John Wick had been _thorough_  in his vengeance), her kids would be able to grow up in the sunlight and she’d have her art - she could still work online, under her new name - Laura Barnes.  

It was as good a tribute to her Gran and her great-uncle as any, right? 

It had been peaceful and sweet and Clint was, in fact, another friend she could have, after years of her own friendships being controlled by Iosef.  Another person worth trusting.  

And there was Natasha, Clint’s partner, who’d become a friend in turn. Laura was greedy and she couldn’t help herself.  She wanted _all_  the people she could trust and care for without being afraid.  

That felt so good.  Not being afraid anymore.  

Cooper and Lila decided to adopt Clint on their own as their Dad, something that had flustered both him and Laura - not wanting any awkwardness.  But somehow, it _fit_  or made sense in a very strange way and Laura had long abandoned the notion of _normal,_ as Clint himself had shown her. 

“Normal’s overrated,” he said, with a shrug.  

What she wanted, for herself and for her children, was something _good._   

What happened between her and Clint…. well, she wouldn’t call it a mistake, to be honest.  It was good.  It was comforting.  It felt wonderful to be _touched_  and to know that it wasn’t going to _hurt_ , that it wasn’t going to bring her pain.  It felt good to be _loved,_ at least the way love was meant to be.  

And baby Nate was the result.  

“I’ve fucked up a lot of things in my life,” Clint had told her, once they both confirmed the pregnancy.  “I swear to you, I’m not going to fuck up this one.” 

She believed him. 

It went without saying that Natasha was godmother.  Natalie would have been a great name for a baby girl… well, right up until they found out the baby was going to be a _boy._   

Natasha was still miffed about that.  

So Laura and Clint weren’t _in love_ , so to speak.  They were friends and there was love and affection there and Laura doesn’t know if she’ll ever want more than what she had right now, with this unusual family she’s found for herself.  

But Cooper and Lila and now little Nate are growing up knowing that they have a father who loves them.  They’re seeing Clint treat their mother with respect and care and affection.  They have a fiercely protective godmother Natasha and now they have these new uncles - Steve, Thor, Tony, Sam and Rhodey. And they eventually got to meet Wanda and Vision.  

It’s a good life she’s found for herself and for her children.  

Tonight, Steve, Sam and Nat are staying over and Lila wants to hear more about Great Uncle Bucky.  Laura will make that the bedtime story for tonight.  She also had a feeling that Steve would need to hear this story too.  

_\- end -_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a.  Yes, this is my headcanon.  Laura Barton is part of the Barnes Family. 
> 
> b.  Yes, there are references here to the movie _John Wick_  and the classic TV series _Beauty and the Beast_  (the version with Linda Hamilton and Ron Perlman).  Headcanon bunnies bit me liek whoa. 
> 
> c.  Here’s my Age of Ultron Fix-It - because friendships and families of choice are my catnip.  You’re welcome. 

**Author's Note:**

> I have a better explanation for the Barton Family, that it isn't what it seems to be. That story is coming soon. Also, yes, shameless Lilo and Stitch references abound! Huzzah!


End file.
